


Hard on the Knees

by Crumbs88



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Rin is an overzealous mother-hen and also a well-meaning dumbass here, Seijuurou falls in love like a ton of rocks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-10-08
Packaged: 2017-12-28 02:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/986388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crumbs88/pseuds/Crumbs88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's love at first sight (well, okay fifth sight) for Seijuurou, but the path to true love is laden with obstacles (and overzealous redheads.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> I'm caving and writing SeijuurouxMakoto mostly for reasons of self-indulgence :) 'tis fun.

Truth was Seijuurou Mikoshiba hadn't ever really taken note of Makoto Tachibana. Not really noticed _noticed_ him anyway.

He could recall their first meeting easily, Seijuurou's always made a point of remembering names and faces, it was the right thing to do after all. But he'd mostly been focusing on Gou-kun and Nanase-kun that day, whilst simultaneously watching the sulking Rin Matsuoka out of the corner of his eye and hoping that - _goddammit Matsuoka_ \- he wouldn't act up or kick trashcans or act like someone in a _My Chemical Romance_ song - that was so 2007, so passé Rin.

He had sized up Makoto for a second - captain of the team, green eyes, handsome dude, friendly, almost as tall as I am, _god I hope he's not interested in Gou-kun_ \- and memorised his name, and that had been it. Makoto had been relegated to the background in favour of Gou-kun, then Seijuurou's attention had been diverted by that Ryugazaki guy belly-flopping into the pool, and then as the Iwatobians left, he'd been preoccupied by thinking that he really hadn't talked to Gou-kun enough.

Makoto hadn't largely featured in their second meeting either, or their third, or even their fourth, hovering in the background as a kind of tall smile while Rin took centre stage and angsted and Nanase pretended that he was unaffected by it. But somehow, after the relay disaster at regionals, Iwatobi and Samezuka had formed some kind of unspoken partnership it seemed, and Seijuurou had relented and let them swim at Samezuka during autumn once a week. _Anything to keep Matsuoka from sulking and writing angsty poetry._ Plus, yaye Gou-kun. (And okay, it was kind of nice to see Matsuoka actually smiling even if he looked like a shark about to embark on a feeding frenzy. Hell, Takeshi-kun their breaststroke genius demanded legumes with his every meal; Suzuka the back-stroker insisted on a quiet - _completely quiet, no sounds please I need no disturbances do you not understand?_ \- space for meditation during warm ups. Seijuurou had catered to these divas, organized for them, _whatever_ , as long as they delivered. So if Matsuoka needed to hold the hands of his four friends from another school to give him a little push, Seijuurou would indulge if he performed accordingly. _Plus_ , he'd thought at the time, _Gou-kun. Yaye_.)

It had been that way until the end of October.

And then one day Seijuurou had noticed _noticed_ Makoto Tachibana.

* * *

It wasn't a big moment really. (Except that it was.)

Seijuurou had actually given thought to meeting the love of his life before - he was a romantic, absolutely, and proud of the fact. He'd imagined it would be a beautiful sunset-shoujo manga moment tinted with pink, maybe waves crashing in the background and so on. And the air would definitely be filled with sparkles and obviously, he'd imagined it would be a girl. (Wasn't like he didn't appreciate the bodies of some of his fellow-swimmers, he was probably bi and he was cool with that, but still, he wanted babies. Lots. He'd planned out his future too, and babies were a definite unrefundable must, ergo the true love was going to be a girl.)

He hadn't imagined true love would involve cramps and no females, an over-protective bastard of a redhead and a lethargic water-loving robot.

It was a kind of slow-mo moment. He'd been watching Nanase swim like something that had gills (everyone watched Nanase swim, it was mesmerising like watching the ocean or a bonfire was), and he'd vaguely noticed Nanase's taller captain ascending the diving board and diving in, but really he'd been focused on Nanase. Then suddenly there was a thrashing in the water, and Seijuurou _moved_ and dove into the pool reflexively. Part of the reason he'd gotten the captaincy gig - besides his awesomeness of course - was his lifeguard training from last summer. Seemed the instincts he'd possessed then hadn't been blunted. Tachibana was writhing close to the pool side, so it took only one powerful kick to get to him. He was wincing, one eye scrunched closed but holding up a hand to prevent Seijuurou from cupping his hand around his jaw to drag him out.

"It's okay," he managed, one leg helplessly attempting to tread water as his arms paddled to keep his head above the waterline, "'M not drowning. Thigh cramp." His other leg seemed to be stiffly suspended in the water.

Well, he wasn't drowning yet, but having a useless leg wasn't exactly hunky-dory.

"C'mon," Seijuurou said, deftly tucking his arm around Makoto's shoulder and hauling him to the pool railing. "Hold onto the step," he said, probably unnecessarily, but Tachibana complied and clutched the pool steps, even managing a tremulous smile. He probably couldn't get up the rungs himself with his momentarily immobile leg (Seijuurou tsked in sympathy, he'd had bad cramps before, and thigh cramps were agony, and dangerous to boot.) He pulled himself out of the pool quickly, grabbed onto Tachibana's outstretched hands and pulled him up and out.

Tachibana sank on the wet tiles immediately, folding his one leg towards himself while the other stretched out in front of him, well-defined and toned and long and aching, no doubt. It probably hurt like hell, but Tachibana ignored it.

"Thank you senpai," Tachibana said, looking up at Seijuurou and tilting his head a little with a smile. "I'm sorry to cause you trouble." His gentle, _so bloody gentle_ eyes were watering, goddammit. Seijuurou's heart did a weird squeezing thing as he stared at the lump of self-sacrifice in front of him, who would rather thank him than pay attention to his own hurt.

"Tsk," he said, trying to ignore his reddening cheeks, "Lie on your back." He didn't really give Tachibana a chance to comply and almost roughly pushed him backwards, grabbing onto Tachibana's thigh with both hands and slowly pushing it towards his stomach. That was the fastest way to alleviate thigh cramps or hamstring cramps.

Tachibana made a cute little hissing sound and tried to hide it. His abdominal muscles flexed and Seijuuro fixed his eyes on him, half hovering over him, suspended over his curled up leg.

_That_ was when it happened.

Seijuurou _noticed_ Makoto Tachibana. Everything around him blurred while Makoto Tachibana suddenly stood out in sharp relief. Makoto Tachibana's eyes were as soothing as a tinkling mountain spring, his skin was butterscotch smooth and Seijuurou wanted to lick it, taste it - was it as sweet as it looked, he loved sweet things - and how could his ears, how could any ears be so beautifully sculpted?

He was vaguely aware that two other people had exited the pool, and were crowding next to Makoto, kneeling. Matsuoka and Nanase, he thought, and dismissed that in favour of drinking in the sight of Tachibana's slightly open mouth. He mechanically managed to reverently pull the thigh - what a wondrous thigh - in his hands backwards again and pumped it slowly back towards Makoto's stomach, leaning in again as he did so, not tearing his eyes away from the mesmerising pools of green staring up at him.

"What are you doing?" Matsuoka asked, hostility evident in his voice.

"Makoto, are you okay?" that was Nanase, probably.

Seijuurou barely heard them, and certainly didn't see them, because somehow the world had narrowed into Makoto Tachibana's suddenly miraculous eyes, and he couldn't tear his gaze away from his tremulous smile, didn't want to either. Time stopped and it was absolutely beautiful.

It turned out true love was green eyes and a sculpted torso and cramping pain and a muscular thigh grasped in Seijuurou's suddenly sweaty palms. And okay, the air wasn't pink and there was no sunset, not even ocean waves crashing against rocks in the background but _by god there were sparkles_. The world was sparkly and beautiful. Seijuurou's brain made the transition from 'true love will be a cute female who will provide me with lots of babies' to 'Tachibana and I will adopt after the wedding' with alarming speed.

His future husband made another little gasping sound as Seijuurou executed another loving thigh pump - he melted, _melted_ and considered leaning in to brush a lock of wet hair out his eyes - but reality and Rin Matsuoka rudely asserted itself in the form of a forceful shove at his arm.

"What the fuck _buchou_ , are you molesting him?"

He would have ignored him - Matsuoka was a pain in the ass and talked crap at him seventy times a day, this kind of comment was par for the course (not that he wouldn't ding his ear for it later, captain's perks) - but Makoto squeaked an embarrassed, "Rin!" and burrowed his face in his hands. Seijuurou was deprived of the view of his intended except for impossibly cute red ears poking out from behind said enormous hands. He'd never thought his true love would have hands the size of continents, definitely comparable to his own, in fact he'd kind of always thought he'd be yearning to clasp his beloved's tiny hands and let them drown in his own sizeable paws. But this was okay, Seijuurou could work with this. Love was about fairness and equality, right, and two big hands clasping each other was a beautiful symbol of that, absolutely.

"I knew it, you fucking pervert!" Rin snarled scathingly. "Right here in front of everybody. Makoto, get away from him, I'll hold him back!"

"He's just helping me Rin," Makoto managed through his hands. "I got a thigh cramp."

"Are you okay Makoto?" Nanase's voice was tinged with perhaps 0.001% more emotion than his usual deadpan, but somehow this made Tachibana's hands slide off his own face and turn sideways to beam at him gently. Seijuurou felt his gut clench.

"I'm fine Haru, cramp's almost gone," Makoto said sweetly, and turned his eyes back to Seijuurou's, and that was good and right and where they obviously belonged. "Thank you senpai, it feels much better."

Seijuurou flushed beetroot red at the soft gaze. So damn gorgeous, so damn cute, how could he have only noticed it now? "Call me Seijuuro," he said. _Call me danna, husband, boyfriend, koi, lover, anata*, call me whatever you want to call me. Just call me._ As usual, Rin's disbelieving scowl bought him back to reality, and Makoto looked shocked at the thought of using his given name. _Right, we don't really know each other all that well,_ he recalled, and grinned impishly, pretending to laugh it off. _Yet. But we will._

"I mean, at least call me Mikoshiba or something, right? You can't be all formal with someone who saved you from almost drowning, haha."

Makoto gave a weak chuckle, still pinned to the pool tiles with the help of his own cramped leg that Seijuurou was still holding onto fervently. Matsuoka's eyes were narrowing into flaming red pin-points as he looked from his captain to Makoto and back, and Nanase was staring longingly at the pool.

"Mikoshiba-senpai then," Makoto offered, cheeks tinting a little pink and not entirely managing to tear his eyes away.

Nope. Wro-ong. "Drop the senpai," _honey, darling, sweetheart, my Mako-chan_ , "Tachibana," Seijuurou cooed, immersed in the eyes below him. This was flirting, right? He was pretty sure this was flirting. It felt like flirting, his heart was making ba-dump ba-dump noises in his chest and he was pretty sure it might soon leap out of his breastbone, and possibly crash-land onto Makoto's chest. Yup, that would be great, absolutely, beautiful symbolism. _I give you my heart._

"Thank you, uh, Mikoshiba then?" Makoto managed, looking as if he were being bullied into offering up his first-born. So proper, so sweet. _Marry me_ , thought Seijuurou, gazing at him adoringly.

Matsuoka half-huffed half-growled and ruined _everything_. "Makoto, get up if you're okay, stop looking molestable. _Buchou_ , you indecent fucker, get off his leg and stay away. Makoto's not one of your easy conquests... And stay away from Gou too."

The poisonous effects of those words were instantaneous. Tachibana yelped in embarrassment and squirmed away from Seijuurou on his hands like an adorable wide-eyed seal ("It's not _like tha_ t Rin!"); Nanase managed to drag his gaze away from the water and moved himself in front of Makoto, arms crossed like a protector, attempting to glare at Seijuurou (he wasn't very good at it, he lacked zeal) and Rin flanked his other side, looking satisfied with himself.

He was _so_ getting more than a ding on his ear later on.

Seijuurou stared at the trio, aghast. Easy conquests? He'd heard there were some rumours about himself floating around school, he'd laughed when he'd heard them, but had dumbass Matsuoka really believed that he was some kind of prolific skirt-chaser? Was that why he was acting like an overprotective and overzealous mother hen, reluctant Nanase in tow? And why were they flanking his future husband as if he needed protection? And what the hell Makoto - _darling, baby, choco-banana_ \- who said it wasn't _like that_? Of course it was _like that._

He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and looked from Matsuoka's belligerent glare to Nanase's blank but suddenly alert gaze to _sweetiepie candy apple_ Makoto, who was determinedly staring down at the pool tiles, rubbing his thigh absently.

Hmm. Perhaps it would take more time and patience than he had estimated to get Makoto to the altar. That was okay. Love took work, right? People were always saying that. And Seijuurou loved a challenge, absolutely. He'd take this slowly, yeah, he would, he could totally do that.

...And in the meantime he could look forward to giving Matsuoka's ear a very hard yank.


	2. Babe I Got Yo' Number

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where Seijuurou is a valiant knight embarking on a quest, and Rin and Haru the apparent knights guarding Makoto's virtue recruit the most fearsome legendary cockblocking-knight of them all to join the cause.  
> (Why do the plot bunnies attack at 1am in the morning? Whyyy?)

It was the morning after Seijuurou had been touched by an angel, and had technically felt up said angel's leg ( _score, second base, almost, kind of)_ and he was in a deep state of deliberation whilst performing his morning ablutions.  
  
He industriously scrubbed his teeth - _gotta keep that smile beautiful for my Mako-rel_ \- as he reflected on the previous night's events. After Seijuurou's future had irrevocably been altered by a pair of shimmering green eyes, Nanase and Matsuoka had practically hauled Makoto out of the Samezuka swimming area, hadn't even allowed him to shower poor baby and dragged him off home... wherever that was. And it had dawned on Seijuurou that he had no idea where Makoto lived or what his phone number was.  
  
As soon as he'd hopped out of the shower yesterday he'd hit Facebook and tried to find him, but his precious dumpling was not on Facebook. That was good in a way, it wasn't like Seijuurou wanted this to be easy. This was a quest for love right, hardships had to be endured. Awesome. Only he had kind of wanted to call Tachibana ( _Tachibaby, hehe_ ) up immediately because all he'd been doing was fidget and think about him and his head was just chanting _Makoto, Makoto, Makoto_ , but yeah, no, too easy, the things in life worth having were worth fighting for or something, yeah. Even his dreams hadn't rewarded him with slightly T-rated visions of Tachibana, instead he'd dreamt of a very disturbing purple dragon with malevolent red eyes and sharp teeth.  
  
 _Oh, a subconscious manifestation of Matsuoka,_ he realised belatedly, gargling noisily and spitting into the sink neatly. Aah, clean teeth rocked hard.  
  
In any case, the path before him was clear, he had to acquire Tachibana Makoto's phone number. He didn't want to wait for next Thursday and joint swim practice, that was no good, Seijuurou was do'er, once you wanted to do something, you had to do it and do it fast, sitting around and waiting for stuff to fall in your lap wasn't his thing.  
  
Obviously, the fastest way to get hold of that number was via Matsuoka, but Seijuuro wasn't an idiot, like hell was Matsuoka going to relinquish it to him.  
  
He swept a brush back through his hair and flashed an exaggerated grin at his reflection in the bathroom mirror - it was time for the morning team run, not like he had to look extra-gorgeous for that, this would do - and left his room, jogging through the dormitory. Still, wouldn't do any harm to try and get the number from Matsuoka right? If he didn't get it, at least he'd have tried. He nodded to himself decisively. Absolutely.  
  
A couple of sleepy looking swimmers were already gathered on the lawn outside the dorm when Seijuurou got there, and he brightened when he spotted Matsuoka sulking next to a bleary-eyed Nitori. Acknowledging the yawning greetings and "Morning _buchou,_ "s from his team with nods and waves, he charged over to the first years, sneakers dampening in the wet morning dew coating the grass.  
  
Rin noticed him advancing and his eyes narrowed.  
  
"No," he said.  
  
"Nice morning isn't it, Nitori, Matsuoka," Seijuurou said with a disarming smile.  
  
" _No_ ," Rin repeated, scowling.  
  
"Morning buchou-senpai," Nitori offered, glancing at Rin uncertainly.  
  
"Say, I need to get hold of the Iwatobi swim team to discuss, uh, forthcoming joint practices..."  
  
"No no no."  
  
"So I'll need Tachibana's number," Seijuurou barrelled on determinedly, barely holding onto that casual grin.  
  
"No," Rin's arms crossed over his chest. "Never."  
  
Fair enough, not like he'd thought merely asking would work.  
  
Rudeness was no excuse though. His face relaxed into its usual irritated-by-Matsuoka expression. "Insurbordination. Ten extra laps for you," Seijuurou barked and stalked away.  
  
Captain's perks. Wasn't like Matsuoka wouldn't love the extra running anyway.

* * *

The school day was long, and Seijuurou dutifully got on with it. He was a good student, a fact that seemed to surprise some people, and he didn't even allow himself to drift into Tachibana-flavoured daydreams during algebra. Seijuurou could see the bigger picture, the future, and Makoto deserved a husband and a provider that hadn't flunked algebra in his third year, simple as that.  
  
After school swim practice was a different matter entirely, and an excellent opportunity to procure his _sticky toffee pudding of love'_ s number. He slyly stood by the door of the locker room, arms folded across his chest watching his team-mates swim, and more importantly waiting for the moment when Rin would stop eyeing him suspiciously and just get into the damn swimming pool already.  
  
Matsuoka did slide into the pool eventually - but sheesh, the bastard was sharp - he made a point of watching Seijuurou even in the water.  
  
Didn't matter, as long as he was in the pool. Matsuoka would have to swim to the poolside, haul himself out of the water and run into the locker room (and be punished for it, no running by the poolside), whereas the only thing Seijuurou had to do was slip into the locker room nonchalantly – like so - and grab Matsuoka's phone where it was conveniently lying on his gym bag on a bench. He did so.  
  
Snooping through other people’s possessions was wrong, he knew that, but did heroes balk in their quests for love? They didn’t. Didn’t they sometimes enter the realm of morally grey areas for the ultimate greater good? They did. Hadn’t Romeo trespassed on enemy property to see his Juliet? He had.  
  
He pressed the phone’s ‘on’-button reverently.  
  
Damn thing was pin-locked.  
  
He stared at the phone for a while, pondering its glorious secrets. Okay no, it was tempting, but he wasn’t going to play guess-Matsuoka’s-pin-number. That was somehow not so much morally grey (fine, dark-grey) as it was, well, sad. He was about to carefully place it back onto the gym bag when the locker room door swung open.  
  
“Put the phone down _buchou_.”  
  
Damn. Matsuoka was glaring at him from the doorway, one sharp tooth somehow resting on his lower lip and making him look less threatening than he was probably hoping for, and more cute, like a vexed puppy.  
  
Seijuurou put it down.  
  
“I wasn’t going to give you the number anyway, but now there’s no chance in hell,” Rin said. He was dripping water, obviously hadn’t bothered drying himself off.  
  
Seijuurou nodded, chastened but not embarrassed. He’d been going about this all wrong. Sneaking around trying to acquire the phone number of a heavenly being, that wasn’t how you did it. It wasn’t romantic, or chivalrous. “I’m going to ask him for his number myself,” he announced. “Tomorrow.”  
  
“Hmm,” Rin said noncommittedly, and then sauntered into the locker room to sit on the locker bench, wet body and all. “I’m not going to make it easy for you, you know.”  
  
“I know,” Seijuurou said levelly. He hadn’t even bothered to refute the dumb rumours that he was some kind of man-whore skirt-chaser. Matsuoka was the type of guy who had to learn things hands on, with experience, simple denial wouldn’t sway him. “And I’m going to give you twenty more laps if you don’t dry yourself off before coming in here.” This was said without hostility, and Matsuoka seemed to accept it as such.  
  
“It’s on then,” Rin rummaged for a towel, located a very gay red spotted one and started rubbing his hair with it.  
  
“Fair enough.” It was. All’s fair in love and war and swimming, and all that. He didn’t care what Matsuoka thought right now. “There’s still half hour of swim practice, and I’m your captain. Get in the pool.”  
  
Rin grumbled under his breath but he went, slamming the locker room door a little harder than necessary, and Seijuurou smiled to himself.  
  
Tomorrow he’d go to Iwatobi High. To see an angel. Yosh.

* * *

_“Attention special agent RinRin @=@. Superspecial agent Hazuki on standby. Over.”_  
  
 _“ignoring u.”_  
  
 _“Aaaaw, come on special agent RinRin, it’s more fun this way! :D”_  
  
 _“why u superspecial anyway?”_  
  
 _“Duh bcoz I am :D Over.”_  
  
 _“only playing if u call me superspecial agent matsuoka.”_  
  
 _“Superspecial agent Shark-chan then :D Elite superduperspecial agent Rockhopper on standby. Over.”_  
  
 _“urgh. fine… over.”_  
  
 _“Yaye! What’s the status on the target, superspecial agent Shark-chan? Over.”_  
  
 _“target has left school. heading south by south-west for train station.”_  
  
 _“You didn’t say over. Over.”_  
  
 _“I’ll bite u… Over.”_  
  
 _“:D <3\. Elite superduperspecial agent Rockhopper sooo on standby, special agent Dolphin-chan swimming by too. Initiating project cockblock. Over and out.”_

* * *

“Yoohoo, RinRin’s captain! Over here!”  
  
It was tomorrow, and Seijuurou had undertaken the journey to Iwatobi. It hadn’t been epic or the stuff of legends really, though there’d been an old lady on the train who chewed gum in an epically fascinating and also amazingly loud way.  
  
Now Seijuurou stared, somewhat nonplussed at the bright, beaming blonde boy standing at the entrance of Iwatobi High school, waving at him. ‘Hazuki Nagisa,’ he reminded himself. ‘Breast-stroke swimmer, likes to crawl all over his teammates, especially bellyflop-boy, something about him seems imminently dangerous. Keep your distance but be polite.’ Those were his mental notes on Nagisa.  
  
Hazuki looked like he was waiting for someone, and if Seijuurou were the paranoid sort, he’d say Hazuki was waiting for him. But that was impossible. Noone knew he was here.  
  
“You took longer than I thought. I’ve been expecting you!” the blonde boy said cheerily. Oh crap. “Welcome, welcome.”  
  
“Hi, uh Hazuki,” he ventured, trying to hide his trepidation. _Never show weakness in front of a predator_ , he reminded himself. All his instincts were screaming that this small blonde bundle of smiles and eye twinkles was indeed a predator. _Man up Sei_ , he scolded himself. _This is your trial of love_. “Is, uh, Tachibana-kun here?”  
  
Nagisa beamed and leaned in conspirationally so that Seijuurou could be treated to a closer view of his effervescent grin. “Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t,” he said, and winked.  
  
Oh geez. _I’m going to get you for this Matsuoka_. “So you don’t know where he is.”  
  
“Maybe I do,” Hazuki leered, charming smile still in place. “But you know RinRin’s captain, Mako-chan’s whereabouts is classified information. I won’t just give it out to anyone, you know.” His tone of voice and the pout contorting his lips was deceptively cute, the operative word being deceptively.  
  
“Can you give me his phone number then?” he hazarded.  
  
“Sneaky, RinRin’s captain!” said Hazuki, and proceeded to offer no explanation as to what that baffling remark might mean.  
  
“I’ll search for him myself then,” he said determinedly. He couldn’t help grinning goofily at the thought of finding Makoto, possibly helplessly tied up and half-naked for some reason (his active imagination supplied), and rescuing him and holding him in his arms and Makoto saying, “Thank you my prince, I will love you forever,” in a breathy voice with adoration in his eyes and…  
  
“Nuh uh,” Nagisa waggled a forefinger in front of his face. “You won’t find him. Ever.” His eyes somehow became even rounder. “But I _might_ remember where he is if you do something fun with me. Do we have a deal?”  
  
Okay, well.  Fun. There was nothing wrong with fun, right? Fun was totes harmless, yeah? And he sensed that things would work out much better for him if he played along with this guy, scorning his beloved’s friend was a classic arsehole dumb move. And the end result would be seeing Makoto _pocky stick angel of heavenliness_ , yes? It would mean staring at those captivating pools of iridescent green again. He ignored the little voice in his head chanting, _Don’t bargain with demons_ , and stuck out a hand. “Okay.”  
  
Nagisa glowed, eyes glinting an alarming red, and shook the proffered hand enthusiastically. “I like you RinRin’s captain!”  
  
He wasn’t entirely sure if this was a good thing, but being liked by _My-koi(bi)-to, heheh, good one’_ s friends surely wasn’t bad.  
  
“Call me Mikoshiba.”  
  
“Okay, then Miko-chan. Come with me!” Hazuki was practically bouncing as he walked off into the school grounds, and Seijuurou bravely set off into the unknown realms of Iwatobi High.

* * *

Three hours later Seijuurou was staring at the pack of cards in his hands blearily. “Do you have any sevens?”  
  
“Nope. Go fish!” said Nagisa giddily.  
  
Seijuurou went fishing with a scowl and fetched up an ace of spades. Useless. It was dusky outside, promising the advent of the night. “Are you ready to tell me where Makoto is yet?” he asked, trying to hide the strain in his voice.  
  
“Oi Miko-chan, one more card and I’ll have won against you again. You’re so bad at this. I might tell you if you win against me.”  
  
“But it’s getting dark,” he pointed out, practically, patiently.  
  
“That’s right, Mako-chan must be home by now,” Nagisa said thoughtfully. “Too bad the last train to Samezuka leaves in half hour right, you won’t have time to see him. Hmm, do you have any aces?”  
  
 _Must not strangle future betrothed’s friend_ , Seijuurou took a deep breath and tossed his short-won ace of spades to the blonde.  
  
“Yaye, I won!” Nagisa proclaimed, flourishing his last cards. “Seriously Miko-chan, it’s like you weren’t even trying in the end.”  
  
“I’m not good at card games,” he said, still holding his temper (a lie, he was so a champ at poker, but he sensed this was not something Nagisa should ever know.) Anyway, it never worked to lose your temper.  
  
Nagisa smiled at him, bright perceptive intelligence dancing in his eyes as he sized Seijuurou up. “You know what Miko-chan, you’re a good guy.” His tone of voice was entirely genuine now, and there was no hint that he was playing games. “You might even be a good friend for Mako-chan, and Mako-chan deserves lots of good friends. Tell you what, if you come play with me tomorrow I might really tell you where he is.”  
  
Seijuurou sighed and mentally recited the quotes his dad had drilled into his head when he was a kid. _Be patient, my boy and you will be rewarded. Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy. A man who is a master of patience is master of everything else._ He let out a deep, slow breath. For love.  
  
“Sounds like a plan,” he said, offering Nagisa a smile. “Anyway, want to walk to the station together?”  
  
Hazuki’s smile widened. “You’re making this _really_ difficult Miko-chan. Okay, let’s go!”

* * *

  
 _“…Mbe we shld let Miko-chan c Mako-chan.”_  
  
 _"Agent Rockhopper, do not compromise the mission. I repeat, do not compromise the mission, over.”_

* * *

Seijuurou reported for duty at 4’o’clock at Iwatobi High School the next day, and Hazuki stood waiting at the school gate as promised.  
  
“Miko-chan you’re late,” he scolded.  
  
“Huh? Really?” He’d been distracted by some pretty flowers on the way there, and had wanted to pick them for Mako-chan ( _because today is the day I will see Mako-chan_ , his determination was like a roaring fire, god he was kind of cool) but an old lady with a broom had chased him away and he’d lost his bearings a little. Still, he was only, what, half-hour late. Hazuki didn’t have to look so vexed.  
  
“Mah, never mind, we’re going to have such fun today!” Nagisa’s eyes gleamed, and Seijuurou braced himself. What would it be, _Uno, Donkey Kong, Scrabble_? Please let it not be _Trivial Pursuit_ , that shit made his head hurt.  
  
“We’re playing a game called ‘Where’s Mako-chan?’” Nagisa announced gleefully.  
  
Hmm. More interesting. Seijuurou listened hopefully.  
  
Nagisa leaned closer. “Mako-chan is somewhere in this school building,” he clarified. “And you have to find him! But he might be on the move, so don’t think it’ll be easy!”  
  
“Wait a minute, is he in on this game?” That would be kind of disappointing. Making a game of someone’s feelings was unbecoming of an angel. _No, couldn’t be. Not my honey pot of love_. But okay, if he was, Seijuurou would go with it, maybe Mako-baby had a teasing side, and that could be a good thing, right.  
  
“Of course not, Mako-chan would never do this knowingly, he’s a good person,” Hazuki reassured him with an expansive wave of his arm. “Haru-chan is dragging him around. Rei-chan doesn’t want anything to do with this, so Rin-chan had to bribe Haru-chan with mackerel and extra sessions at the Samezuka pool. Haru-chan thought this would be too much effort, but he would sell his soul for mackerel and pools so it’s all good.”  
  
Nagisa beamed.  
  
Seriously, Matsuoka was getting fifty extra laps at swimming practice tomorrow.  
  
“Anyway, there are rules. You have a time limit of one hour. If you catch Mako-chan it’s up to you what happens next, but you have to shout “Mackerel!” if you see him. If you pass a fire alarm you have to spin in a circle three times and say “I’m on fire.” I’ll stop you when the hour is up and you have to treat me to pizza. Make that two pizzas.” _Wut._ “I’ll know if you’re cheating. Got it. Okay, ready, go! Go Miko-chan! Fight-o!”  
  
This game was contrived, and weird, and dumb, but Seijuurou sprinted towards the school building with all his might. Cute school girls scattered in his wake, gasping at his rapid advance. _For love, and for green eyes and for Japan._ And well, he kind of didn’t like to lose.

* * *

Two hours later, Seijuurou was next to the Iwatobi school pool, brooding in a melancholy fashion.  
  
He had not found Mako-chan. He hadn’t even seen a hair on his lovely head. _Where’s Mako-chan? Gone. Gone._  
  
Hazuki had just departed with the news that he’d lost the game, looking severely disappointed (“I was secretly rooting for you Miko-chan”) and reminding him that two pizzas were due next Friday sharp.  
  
 _Was this what despair felt like?_  
  
He stared at the pool, wondering if it held any answers. This melancholy brooding thing was hard, it wasn’t his natural mode. It was kind of depressing, really. Still, he was trying gamely to look as if he was about to break out into angsty poetry, because it felt like the right moment for this.  
  
 _Oh crap I probably look like Matsuoka right now._  
  
That totally wiped off any vestiges of sulking from his face, and he sat up straight.  
  
Hell no. He wasn’t giving up, ever. He’d hunt down Makoto’s phone number to the ends of the earth, into the pits of hell, no doubt finding it in heaven and finding bliss along with it. Yeah! It was going to be awesome. He could do this. It had only been three days, he could do this for years! Right, time to go on home and plan his next move.  
  
“Huh? Miko…Mikoshiba-san? Is that you?”a gentle tenor voice startled him out of his personal pep talk, and he whipped his head around.  
  
It was… it was Makoto. Makoto, his angel, was standing at the door of the pool locker room, looking at him in confusion. He was wearing jeans and a striped top and he looked like a slice of angel food cake, and Seijuurou’s heart expanded in his chest, it felt like it would never stop expanding. He drank in the boy’s features and felt an immense sense of peace, like he’d come home. Hell yeah, he would never stop fighting for this. Let lightning strike him down if he ever doubted this for a milli-second.  
  
“What are you doing here Mikoshiba-san?”  
  
‘Marry me’ was probably not the way to go here. Phone number first, that was what he’d came for, right.  
  
“I thought we agreed to drop the honorifics, Tachibana. Ohayo,” He sauntered over, smiling, until he was a foot away and could appreciate the radiant sweetness from up close. “I was looking for you, actually.” Oh yeah, _go Sei,_ that line was totally out of one of his favourite romance movies, he was so cool.  
  
Makoto’s plump mouth opened a little, and he couldn’t be absolutely sure in the dusky light but it looked like his cheeks were reddening faintly. “Oh well, I came back here to get my school bag. Haru dragged me home without letting me get my stuff, I don’t know why, so I guess you’re lucky you found me.”  
  
“I sure am.”  
  
“Uh, wh… what were you looking for me, I mean why were you looking for me?” Makoto managed. Seijuurou wanted to pull him into a hug, he looked nervous.  
  
“I came to get your phone number,” he said easily and honestly, and now Makoto was definitely blushing. _And baby you are rocking those jeans._  
  
“Eh. Really?”  
  
“We should be in contact, right?” Seijuurou said glibly. So smooooth, he rocked, man. “So if I want to find you, like today, I can call you.” _Also, how many kids do you want. I’m thinking six, three boys, three girls, we can name them after the stars._  
  
Makoto scratched his neck. “Uh, yeah, that’s… That makes sense. Okay well, my number is…”  
  
Seijuurou held his phone ready, and dutifully punched in the numbers. _What avatar picture should Makoto have?_ he wondered. _Pity there are no pictures of heaven._  
  
“Right, I’ll text you so that you have my number too,” he said when the transaction was concluded.  
  
Makoto was staring at his feet. “Uh, yeah, great,” he offered.  
  
He had big feet too. Somehow Seijuurou was feeling an acute attack of nervousness now. His goal was accomplished, and now it was just him and this gorgeous sweetheart, awkwardly hovering near the pool, and he had no idea what to talk about that wasn’t wedding-related. (He had lots to say about the table centre-pieces at the reception, and what _their song_ should be, and he didn’t want grandma Yuuki sitting at the main table, guh, no, but this didn’t seem appropriate.)  
  
He made a brave attempt. “So, how’s your swimming going?” Urgh, what a dorky question.  
  
Makoto didn’t laugh or point fingers though. He fixed his gaze on Seijuurou’s shoelaces – good thing he’d worn his super sexy orange All Stars today. “It’s uh, going good. I mean it’s fine. Yours?”  
  
“Yeah, swimming good too, I mean, fine.”  
  
“…The weather was good today, wasn’t it?”  
  
“Ah,” said Makoto, tracing an embarrassed pattern on the concrete with the toe of his sneaker, “It was. Nice and sunny.”  
  
“Hmm, there were some nice clouds in the sky.”  
  
“Very. There was one that looked like a fish,” Makoto offered, his eyes (pools of such magnificent unchlorinated beauty that he wanted to dive into them right there) flashing up for a brief moment to meet Seijuurou’s.  
  
“I didn’t see it,” he was really gutted about that (how perfect wouldn’t it have been if they’d been staring at the same clouds in the sky), and he was even more gutted when Makoto’s eyes lowered again.  
  
Seijuurou had heard somewhere that 99% of true love was acute, ear-burning, toe-curling embarrassment, and he was kinda feeling it now.  
  
It was probably a stroke of luck that a teacher interrupted them at this point, because the next question on his lips was, “Do you like cows?” which was somehow all his brain had managed to fixate on at that moment. Luckily, the question never hit the airwaves.  
  
“What are you boys still doing here?” Some older guy wearing glasses was striding towards the pool area. Teacher, Seijuurou presumed.  
  
“I just came to lock up the pool, sensei,” Makoto said obediently.  
  
“And him? He’s not from this school. He shouldn’t be here. You lock up Tachibana-kun, I’ll escort him off the premises.”  
  
“Uh, okay,” Makoto said, glancing at Seijuurou worriedly.  
  
“That’s fine,” he said magnanimously, trying to mentally reassure him that being expelled from school property was no big deal for him. Good thing sensei hadn’t caught him sprinting in the corridors and spinning around the fire emergency buttons an hour or so ago at Nagisa’s behest, he would have looked more than slightly annoyed.  
  
He gave his future bride a little wave. _Bye bye sweet perfection, I’ll be calling you._  
  
Seijuurou didn’t even feel upset being torn away from his beloved as he traipsed after the annoyed-looking teacher. Inwardly he was dancing and rejoicing. _I got his number, I got his number! Number acquired. Whoo! Woot. I am the master of the universe._  
  
Life was a damn beautiful thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is Rin giving Seijuurou such a hard time? Werl, honestly I don’t know but I will shed some light on it further on in the story. Somehow. Maybe. I’ll think of something.  
> I was tempted to draw out Sei's phone number quest torture a little more, but I think that might be a pitfall and we have to move the plot along, right? I have the attention span of a gnat myself and tend to get bored if plots aren't snappy (my loss because a lot of brilliant writing is long and drawn out.) Anyhow, Seijuurou's epic hero's journey has begun, he has endured demon Nagisa for love, he's a valiant knight by any standard (ilu Nagisa.) There will be many more hurdles in his path and many fearsome foes and quests to traverse (unless I get lazy oc), but Seijuurou has cleared Level 1. Banzai Seijuurou.  
> I haven't the faintest idea what'll happen in chap 3, I like this way of writing =P

**Author's Note:**

> I'm writing freestyle here and haven't planned anything much beyond 'Seijuurou falls in love so hard it ought to be illegal' because this is self-indulgent fic, so I don't know who's going to turn up character-wise or whether there will be other pairings or whether there will be smut, so let's see and enjoy the ride, I'll add tags as I go along. 
> 
> The title is prolly kind of lame and suggestive of stuff that might not even happen here (as I said, no planning), I'll try to think of something better and less misleading. But yeah it's a reference from the Aerosmith song 'Falling in love (Is hard on the knees.)'
> 
> Most people in the anime fandom's Japanese is leagues better than my own, but just in case here's the translation of some of the words Seijuurou wants Makoto to call him :) Danna - husband; Koi - lover, anata - dear, or something approximating that anyway, I'm not very pedantic and didn't check... Also buchou is captain. I used to be dead-set against using Japanese words in fic, but I guess I got used to them somewhere along the way?
> 
> Makoto's food-related nicknames in Mikoshiba's head were inspired by episode 9 where Nitori said, 'Captain Mikoshiba bought cotton candy, chocolate bananas and candy apples,' or something like that, so I'm assuming he likes sweet things. Feel free to suggest dumb nicknames, I like choco-banana so far.


End file.
